Head over Heels (ABBA song): Difference between revisions

"Head over Heels"
Song
B-side	"The Visitors"

"Head Over Heels", originally named "Tango", is a 1981 song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA, released as a single the following year. It was extracted from their final studio album, The Visitors and coupled with the title track of that album as the B-side.

History

"Head Over Heels" was written and composed by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus. The lead vocal was sung by Agnetha Fältskog, singing about her "very good friend," played in the music video by Anni-Frid Lyngstad, an overactive high-society woman who rushes through the shops, with her hapless & exhausted husband (played by Ulvaeus) following behind.

As with the previous single "One of Us", Epic Records in the UK used a different picture sleeve from the standard one used in most countries.

The single was not released in the United States, who flipped the b-side to release "The Visitors" as a single instead, with "Head Over Heels" as the b-side.

Reception

"Head Over Heels" was not a successful chart hit by ABBA's standards. The release came as the group's popularity was declining, and became ABBA's worst selling single since "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do", seven years earlier. It only managed to chart as high as No. 25 in the UK, breaking a run of 18 consecutive Top 10 hits (from "SOS" in October 1975 to "One of Us" in December 1981). This 18-hit run had equaled that of The Beatles, who had consecutive Top 10 hits from 1964 (with "A Hard Day's Night") to 1976 (with "Yesterday"), broken by "Back in the U.S.S.R.". Although "Head Over Heels" did experience Top 10 success in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and France, by this time, ABBA's chart domination was all but over, and the group effectively disbanded a year later. The track was excluded from their retrospective double LP The Singles: The First Ten Years, which was released later in 1982.

Chart positions

Chart (1982)	Position
Austrian Singles Chart	8
Belgian Singles Chart	2
British Singles Chart	25
Dutch Singles Chart	4
French Singles Chart	10
Irish Singles Chart	14
Swiss Singles Chart	18

Cover versions

• A cover of the song by Finnish a cappella choral ensemble Rajaton can be found on their 2006 ABBA tribute album Rajaton Sings ABBA With Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
• The song is covered on an ABBA tribute album presented by the San Juan Music Group.
• The K&K Studio Singers recorded the song in Polish as "Dumna Jak Paw".